Pope's moral mission on global warming to shift US climate wars

POPE Francis has made history this week with a call for worldwide cooperation to avert dangerous global warming. It is the Catholic church’s most powerful statement yet on the environment and climate change.

A leaked draft of the encyclical – a special type of edict used to define key priorities for the church and its 1.3 billion adherents – calls for changes in lifestyle and energy use to avoid the “unprecedented destruction of the ecosystem”. It warns that failure to act would have “grave consequences”. It also calls for a new global political authority to reduce pollution and help poor countries and regions develop.

His message could have particular impact in the US, home to 78 million Catholics and vital to international climate talks. Coming months will see coordinated sermons, homilies and media outreach by US bishops as part of a Vatican-led campaign setting the stage for the pope’s September visit. He’s due to address Congress and the United Nations General Assembly.

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Surveys suggest that US Catholics – about a quarter of all voters – will be receptive to his climate message. This group, who divide their loyalties between Republicans and Democrats, are more likely than non-Catholics to believe that climate change is happening, that humans are the cause, and to support action. But these sentiments are often weakly held. Rather than identify the issue as a moral one, most, like other Americans, still think about it abstractly and in technical terms. The Vatican campaign could reframe it as a religious and moral imperative, boosted by blanket coverage of the pope’s visit and exhortations in church.

Political resistance to climate action could weaken too. Over the past year, a number of prominent Republican voices have argued their party must rethink its long-standing opposition to measures designed to address climate change. The pope’s visit will only strengthen these appeals. Andrew Hoffman and Jenna White at the University of Michigan recently argued this, saying it would create “political cover for emerging Republicans to upend the notion that you can’t be a conservative and believe in climate change”.

The papal visit will also coincide with the start of the Republican Party’s nomination race for presidential candidates, posing a serious challenge to conservatives who continue to deny the warnings of climate science or oppose efforts to limit greenhouse gas emissions. Among the field of declared or likely candidates, Jeb Bush, Chris Christie, Marco Rubio, Rick Santorum, George Pataki and Bobby Jindal all identify themselves as faithful Catholics. The pope’s stance may well mean uncomfortable questions dog them on the campaign trail.

His address to Congress will also trigger similar tensions for more than 80 Catholic Republicans, including the speaker of the House, John Boehner.

The potential impact on US climate politics is huge. As Jay Faison, a conservative Republican and entrepreneur behind a &dollar;165 million endowment for a foundation devoted to climate change and clean energy, told The Washington Post&colon; “There’s a good argument to be made that losing Catholics will lose you the election.”

There are those who argue that a shift in Catholic opinion could transform US climate politics

This article appeared in print under the headline “Pope’s salvo in US climate war”